Group Check-In #30: April 2018

Tell us what you’ve read, how you’re feeling about your progress, how much you love the classics or the community — any struggles, a favorite read so far. Really, whatever you feel like sharing!

Some people prefer writing an update at their own blog and linking it here in the comments. That’s fine, too.

Feel free to respond to one another in the comments below — ask questions, visit each other, tell us you are new to the club, planning to join the club — etc. This is a meet and greet.

If you’re having trouble with your list and need encouragement, say that! That’s understandable. We want new classics readers to join us, so there’s nothing wrong with arriving to this thread with all of the newness showing!

(Please also note the “check-in” feature here is entirely voluntarily, intended for those who like weighing in with others in the group, and having a periodic place to reflect upon goals for the club. For some this feature would feel like an unwanted intrusion. Silent participation in this group is of course welcome!)

Related

Post navigation

34 thoughts on “Group Check-In #30: April 2018”

I just finished Jane Eyre, which I read for the first time and loved it! It is the third title I’ve crossed off my CC list and I’m happy to say that I’ve truly enjoyed those reads. I am now three chapters into The Two Towers, by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is also on my list, and after that I will spend some time with a few contemporary books which have been in my list for quite a while now.

Lol, it’s been very pleasurable indeed, especially as I had never seen any film adaptation so I was totally in for every plot turn and surprise. I can totally understand why it is a favourite of so many people around here.

And yes, I know about LOTR – I have to catch up with your read-along posts. I’ve been incredibly busy lately (yep, I’m the same Irene that’s been commenting on them only that I was using another address because I didn’t have this blog when I first started. I only came with my list of fifty classics to read recently and started this new project and blog 🙂 ). Too many things, so little time!

OH! Then, hi! I didn’t realize you were the same Irene! That’s very cool. Yeah, lots of people have a bunch of catching up to do on the read-along, especially since my niece and I finished our course, so I just kind of dumped the last 10 chapters onto my blog all in one day, lol. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on it!

Hey all. I have not read any Classics from my list in a bit. I think it has to do with not finding physical copies and feeling a bit ehhh. I have been reading more Historical Fiction and Mystery not on my list. 😦

I just finished off my book #16, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which was a re-read. A delightful re-read! I may try slipping another Austen into my spring reading time yet, as I’m definitely in the mood for more.

I’ve read one classic off my list so far this year, Maurice by E.M. Forster, which I enjoyed. I just started revising the Classics Club page on my blog yesterday and added a list of some favorite classics that I read prior to joining CC. I woke up in the middle of the night with the thought that I failed to add The Canterbury Tales. 🤦‍♀️

I’ve only read one more from my list so far this month, but I did up my list amount from 50 to 100! I’ll be sharing that on my blog soon and I guess I have to mail that in at some point, too. I am reading my spin club pick veeeerrrrrrrry slowly. It’s Gone With The Wind and unless I try and devote a few hours a few days a week to reading it, I’ll be reading it for the rest of the year at this rate. Another big one I picked up was Bleak House for an 18-month read-along. Hoping to pick up another one for the last half of the month and focus more on these titles in May!

Well, sadly I’ve abandoned the last two of my list reads, including the spin pick. So I’ve done a little bit of shuffling to replace them and one or two others that had lost their shiny appeal since I prepared my list. Frankly, playing about with the list is nearly as much fun as reading the books! I’m also loving a classic that isn’t on my list – And Quiet Flows the Don – which I really expected not to enjoy at all. So ups and downs, highs and lows, swings and roundabouts… *feels dizzy*

Lol. I don’t know if I am doing this correctly, but I wrecked my list. (With me, nothing stays still for long, but hey, I am reading the classics! -I love when we enjoy a classic we didn’t expect to enjoy.)

I started this challenge the 28th of March, 2017, and as today, I have read 41 classics! I have boosted my classics reading thanks to the club, the spins, and the books I see at other people’s blogs. I have also met wonderful classic clubbers, so all is well at my neck of the woods.
I am constantly adding to the list, and it works for me this way. It’s my classics title bucket list.

Silvia, I’m always adding to my list too. I’m on my second go-round with the CC, having finished off my first 50 books in 2016 — by then, my list was up to more than 100, so I just took all the ones I hadn’t read yet and declared that was my second list. I’m chopping away at that now, but it’s up to 75 titles now, so… I take it as a win that I have so many lovely classics ahead of me yet, right?

I’m also on my second list of 50. I’ve just finished reading Zola’s Nana. I got Walter Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor for the spin and finished that last week. I think my next classic read will be The White Guard by Bulgakov.

I loved The White Guard when I read it recently. All those different factions baffled me a bit, but I found that in an odd way that added to it – gave a feeling of how confusing the whole war was. Hope you enjoy it!

I finished my #ccspin book, Amy Tan’s THE JOY LUCK CLUB, which is my most recent classic for the challenge. I’ve been moving slowly, oh so so slowly, through my list. But I do have big plans for the summer. I updated my list (so, technically I’m on my second list) to include a lot more diversity, especially women, which put me behind in my original plan a bit. But that’s okay. 🙂

I’m on my second list of 50 now. What I love about this challenge is that I no longer consciously have to make a point to pull classics into my everyday reading. My to-read list is so full of them that they’re just part of my regular reading habit now.

I’m a year in on this list, to the day actually, and 11 classics read, so I’m right on track.

We're excited you've been turning the page. :)

Join Us On Goodreads:

Prefer to read quietly?

The activities on this site are intended to contribute to the reading journey of those who seek a bit of connection with the group. None of these extra activities are intended to curb your reading joy. If you prefer to work on your list quietly and save any remarks for your personal book post, that’s respected and encouraged, too. This extra stuff is because some people like book mingling.